Even as BJP begins to analyse the reason its heavy defeat in Bihar Assembly polls, party leaders and veterans have started voicing for the accountability to be fixed for the performance. Senior leader and MP from Bihar Shatrughan Sinha on Monday said those responsible for the debacle should be taken to task, while former Union minister Arun Shourie was more candid in picking the cause of defeat.

Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who chose to openly voice his dissatisfaction for being sidelined in the run-up to Bihar polls, met Chief Minster Nitish Kumar and congratulated him for the resounding victory of the Grand Alliance. Heaping praises on Nitish Kumar, saying he is a “tried, tested and successful chief minister”, Mr. Sinha sought “action” in his own party for the big loss.

“There should be action against those responsible. They should be taken to task and they should get lessons,” Shatrughan Sinha said.

Seconding the opinion expressed by Arrah MP RK Singh, he added “as former Home Secretary and party leader RK Singh has said, responsibility should be fixed and those responsible for this loss should draw lessons even if action is not taken.”

When asked if his meeting CM Nitish Kumar was in defiance of the party line, he said it should not be viewed as such as he had met the Bihar chief minister in a spirit of healthy politics.

When the press packed sought his answer to the earlier reports speculating that his party BJP was considering action against him, Sinha said “I have no such information or news. I have done nothing that I should feel or realise that there should be action against me.”

“After Jyoti Babu, in my view, Nitish babu has been a very good and respectable leader, both as a person and by his personality,” he added as the press jostled to get his reaction.

Earlier in the day, former Union Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government Arun Shourie on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and senior leader and Union minister Arun Jaitley should be held accountable for BJP’s loss.

He said a “Modi-centric” campaign “lacked credibility” because of the unkept promises of the past and blamed BJP’s “divisive tactics” for the drubbing. Mr. Shourie, who is no longer with the party claimed that the “silent non-cooperation movement” in the party against the leadership will now deepen.

“A Modi-centric campaign, a divisive campaign and the campaign lacked credibility as promises of the past have not been kept,” said Arun Shourie in his reaction to the BJP’s heavy loss.

Adding to what seemed like rumblings of discontent within the BJP, another senior BJP leader questioned Shah’s “high-pitched” campaign.

“Soft-spoken Nitish Kumar as the Chief Ministerial candidate did the trick, with voters rejecting the high-pitched BJP campaign crafted by party president Amit Shah,” said Chandan Mitra adding there is a need to cultivate a strong local party leadership in Bihar.